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Nomenclature etc. MYRTACEAE. Not protected under CITES regulations.
Description based on 10 specimens. Tree. Geographic distribution: Mediterranean incl. N. Africa and Middle East, Australia (natural occurrence, in the other regions cultivated), southern Africa, North America, temperate South America.
General. Growth ring boundaries distinct (if distinct, indicated by dark latewood zones nearly void of vessels) or indistinct or absent. Heartwood basically brown, white or grey. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour. Density 0.55–0.73–0.8 g/cm³. Often with interlocked grain.
Vessels. Vessels present. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels arranged in a diagonal and/or radial pattern and no specific pattern, exclusively solitary. Two distinct vessel diameter classes absent. Average tangential vessel diameter 60–170–230 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 4–6. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 8–10 µm (pits only between vasicentric tracheids and vessels), pits vestured. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, different from intervessel pits, rounded or angular. Helical thickenings absent. Tyloses present, thinwalled.
Tracheids and fibres. Vascular or vasicentric tracheids commonly present. Fibres of medium wall thickness. Fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls, distinctly bordered. Fibres non-septate.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty and vasicentric. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: (3–)4–6(–7).
Rays. Rays 10–14 per tangential mm, multiseriate, 1–2(–3) cells wide. Aggregate rays absent. Rays of one size. Height of large rays up to 500 µm. Rays composed of a single cell type (homocellular) and two or more cell types (heterocellular); homocellular ray cells procumbent. Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 1 marginal row of upright or square cells.
Secretory structures. Intercellular canals absent.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in axial parenchyma cells. Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. Crystals of very variable occurence in different specimens. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract not fluorescent. Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Splinter burns to partial ash. Ash white to grey and yellow-brown.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). radial (natural size). • Transverse section. • Tangential section. • Radial section.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
